Watch in 360°: Weekend 'soldiers' relive the decisive battles of World War II

By TARGO &bullet;
last updated:
20/02/2019

On weekdays, Renaud Labarbe is a police officer in the town of Liège in Belgium. But on weekends, he dons a uniform that turns him into an American soldier circa 1944.

TARGO followed him on a reenactment of the Battle of the Bulge: the last German offensive of the Second World War.

In a piece of land caught between France, Belgium and Germany, 200 volunteers come together for a weekend where everything looks like 1944: weapons, bazookas, tents and vehicles.

The biggest difference: there are no bullets.

Labarbe has always been interested in WWII. For him, re-enactment is both a way to connect to a fascinating past and to pay your respect to the people who fought.

But no matter how exact the replicas they use or how precisely they stick to the scenario they have agreed upon beforehand, Labarbe notes that their experience is nothing like the real thing.

“When we’re re-enacting, we know we’re not risking anything. Back then, they didn’t know if they would return back home. We can re-enact the scene, but we could never re-enact how they’d feel.”

Be part of the re-enactment by clicking on the 360 video above.

TARGO is a virtual reality media company. Their documentaries are available on VR streaming platforms like Samsung VR, Inception VR, CineVR Littlstar, Veer, Oculus Video as well as Youtube and Facebook.